Casting-furnace.



Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

2 SHEBTS*SHEET 1.

HE NORRIS PETERS CO, PHOTOLITHH WASHINUVUN, u

R. T. JOHNSTON.

CASTING FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 11, 1907 Patented Jan. 5. 1915.

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ROBERT T. JOHNSTON, 0F SCOTCH PLAINS, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGN- MENTS, TO AUTOMATIC FURNACE 00., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ACORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CASTING-FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

Application filed September 11, 1907. Serial No. 392,280.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT T. JOHNSTON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Scotch Plains, in the county of Union and State of NewJersey, have invented a new and useful Casting-Furnace, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to a furnace especially designed for melting andremelting metal to cast it into ingots, and while capable of generaluse, it is especially designed for producing ingots and pigs for use inslug and type-casting machines, and in type-casting plants in general,either from new metal or from the slugs and types remelted. It is thegeneral practice at present in remelting metal of this kind to stir ormix the metal and ladle the same into molds by hand, the molds andfurnace being separate. On account of its slowness, this proc essconsumes considerable labor and fuel, and also the furnace and moldbeing sepa rate, the apparatus takes up a comparatively large amount offloor space.

The principal objects of the present invention are to provide the usualmelting pot or caldron with means whereby it may be connected with themolds directly by a spout, a valve or other means being provided toregulate the flow of metal; to provide means whereby the molds may belocated under the spout so as to be moved along and filled one afteranother; to provide meahs whereby the molds may be supported by thefurnace itself in such position as to surround the same and to movearound the furnace in their travel, as described above; to provide asimple and convenient means for moving the molds; to provide for rapidlycooling the molds and the ingots therein after the casting isaccomplished; to provide a construction that will allow the molds toremain in water practically all the time; to provide an inlet and outletfor the water that will not require a moving joint, which would have tobe packed and kept tight; to provide a single hood for venting thefurnace proper and receiving the fumes from the melting-pot; and toprovide a combined stirrer and valve operating device whereby the metalcan be agitated or mixed without operating the valve, but the valvecannot be opened to discharge the metal without first mixing or stirringthe metal.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 isa perspective view of a casting furnace constructed in accordance withthe principles of this invention. Fig. 2 is a central vertical sectionalview of the same showing certain parts in elevation, and Fig. 3 is aplan of a portion of the mold-supporting, carrying, and cooling device,showing a part of the furnace.

The invention is illustrated as embodied in a form in which the furnaceproper preferably consists of a metal shell 11 lined with asbestos orthe like. The furnace may be designed to operate with any desired kindof fuel, but it is shown as being provided with a gas-burner 12 suppliedby a pipe 13 entering the, lower portion of the furnace. Any desiredkind of burner or other source of fuel may be employed.

Supported at the top of the shell is a caldron or melting pot 14 havinga horizontal flange 15 resting on top of the furnace shell 11. On thisflange rests a hood 16 which is connected with a flue. It will be seenthat the fumes from the molten metal may be discharged directly into thehood and as a part of the flange 15 is omitted or cut away at 18 theproducts of combustion from the burner are also discharged into thishood. By this construction a simplification is obtained as a singleoutlet for fumes, products of combustion, etc., both from the meltingpot and from the flame is provided for.

When the furnace is designed to remelt metals, as indicated above, it isdesirable to provide means for stirring the same, which is shown hereinin the form of a stirrer or mixer 20 mounted to swing on end trunnions21, which do not extend across the melting pot and therefore do notinterfere with charging the caldron. One of the trunnions is providedwith a handle 22 on the outside of the furnace. The stirrer ispreferably of crescent shape, so that it will sweep along substantiallythe entire bottom of the melting pot. It will be noticed that thestirrer is shown as provided with a projection 23, the purpose of whichwill now be described.

The melting-pot is provided with a spout 24 through which its contentsmay be discharged, this being controlled in the pres ent instance by avalve 25 having a valve stem 26 normally held down to its seat by anydesired means as a weight 27, the valvestem being guided by a bracket28.

For obvious reasons the metal has to be mixed before it is dischargedinto the molds. It is desirable that means be provided whereby the metalcannot be discharged until it has been so mixed. For this purpose,according to this invention, the stirring device is provided with meanswhereby, although it may be operated independently, the means fordischarging the metal, as for example, the valve 25, cannot be operatedexcept by the operation of said stirring means.

In the present case the valve-stem 26 is provided with a collar or thelike 29 adapted to be engaged by the projection 23 when the stirringdevice is operated to its extreme position in one direction. This notonly mixes the metal, but it opens the valve and allows the metal to bedischarged through the spout 24 into the molds 30. The up ward motion ofthis collar 29 is limited by the bracket 28, and as the collar isadjustable along the valve stem, its position regulates the distancewhich the valve can be opened. The molds are supported in the followingmanner. On the furnace shell are a plurality of outwardly extendingbrackets 31 constituting a support for an annular stationary tank 32.This tank preferably contains water, and is provided with a ledge 33 onone side also extending along the furnace. With this construction themolds remain in water practically all the time and water can becirculated through the tank through inlets 50 and outlets 51 which,being stationary, do not require packing of joints in order to keep themtight. Within the tank is located a spider 34 which when the furnace iscircular will be of similar form, and which corresponds in shape withthe tank as it is contained therein. This spider has upwardly projectingarms 35 on which are mounted rollers 36 rolling on the ledge 33, and isof such form as to support the molds 30 and carry them around thefurnace.

In order that the spider may be rotated easily by means of the moldsthemselves, it is provided with cross bars 37 located be tween the moldsso that force applied to any mold will be transmitted to one of these.crossbars to move the spider along the tank and around the furnace. Itwill be noticed that when'the tank is filled with water the molds are inthe water at all times during pouring as well as while cooling. This ispossible in the casting of soft metals and compositions such as used inprinting, as such metals do not have the chilling properties of castiron.

The molds themselves are of such shape as to produce the desired form ofingots and are provided with projections 40 constituting handles bymeans of which they and the spider may be moved along in the tank andaround the furnace. The molds preferably are provided with partitions41, as is well understood, for the purpose of making indentations in thebottoms of the ingots and dividing the molds into a plurality of spacesfor the casting of ingots. Another feature which is shown herein is theprovision of the molds with ledges 42 on one side thereof at differentlevels in order to guide the operator so that he may produce ingots ofthe desired sizes.

It will be seen that by this construction or any other coming within thescope of the claims, the above mentioned advantagesare secured in asimple and convenient manner, and with a construction which isinexpensive and takes up but very little room in practice; the metal canbe mixed and'the ingots cast by a single operation, and the molds movedalong and cooled in a very simple manner, the molds being arranged sothat those which have been charged are leaving the filling point as theempty ones are approaching it.

While I have illustrated and described a preferred form of theinvention, I am aware that the same may be carried out with manymodifications thereof by any person skilled in the art without departingfrom the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore, Ido not wish to Be limited to the particular form illustrated, 'ut

What I do claim is 1. The combination with a caldron or melting pot, ofmeans for discharging molten material therefrom, and a stirrer havingmeans for operating said discharging means.

2. The combination with a caldron or melting pot, of means fordischarging molten material therefrom, a stirrer in said melting pot,and means operated by the stirrer for operating said discharging meansto stop the flow of'metal from said melting pot.

3. A melting pot or caldron havingmeans for discharging molten materialtherefrom, and a stirrer capable of operation independently of saiddischarging means, said stirrer having means for operating saiddischarging means.

4. A caldron or melting pothaving n outlet, a valvetherefor, astirrercapableof operation independently of said valve, and

means connected with the stirrer for operating the valve.

5. The combination with a caldron or melting pot having an outlet, of avalve for said outlet, a stirrer in said melting pot, and means operatedby the stirrer for opening said valve.

6. The combination with a caldron or melting pot having an outlet, of avalve therefor, a valve stem for said valve, a collar on the valve stem,and a swinging stirrer having an arm thereon adapted to engage saidcollar and lift the valve.

7. The combination'of a valve for a caldron or melting pot, a valve stemtherefor, a collar on the valve, a movable stirrer, and a projectionextending angularly from said stirrer and adapted to engage and liftsaid collar during the motion of the stirrer in one direction.

8. The combination of a valve for a melting pot or caldron, a valve stemtherefor,

means for holding the valve to its seat, and means for operating saidvalve comprising a stirrer having a device thereon for lifting thevalve.

9. In a furnace, the combination of a casing, a caldron or melting pottherein spaced from said casing, a burner under said melting pot, anoutlet from said melting pot extending through the casing, a stirrer inthe melting pot, an arm on the outside of said casing connected with thestirrer for operating it and constituting the sole manually operatedmeans for operating said valve, and a hood covering said casing and potand adapted to receive fumes, products of combustion, and the like fromthe melting pot and burner.

10. In a furnace, the combination of a casing, a caldron depending fromthe top thereof having a space between its upper edge and the wall ofthe casing, a burner located below the melting pot in the casing, and aremovable hood over and outside the casing adapted to be connected witha flue and to receive fumes from the melting pot and products ofcombustion from the burner through said space and to conduct them away.

11. In a furnace, the combination of a casing, a melting pot therein ofsmaller diameter than the casing and having a flange at its upper edgeresting on the casing, said flange being cut away at one side of saidmelting pot, a burner under the melting pot, and a hood over the top ofthe casing.

12. The combination of a valve for a melting pot or caldron, a valvestem therefor, a stirrer in the melting pot, an adjustable collar onsaid valve stem, a stationary guide for the stem constituting a stop forsaid collar, and means on the stirrer for engaging the collar to operatethe valve.

13. In a furnace, the combination of a shell, a burner in said shell,means for supplying said burner with fuel, a melting pot supported bythe upper part of the shell over the burner, brackets mounted on saidshell, a mold-supporting device carried by said brackets, and meansextending from said melting pot through said upper part of the shell fordischarging the contents of the pot into molds held by saidmold-supporting device.

14. In a furnace, the combination of a shell, a melting pot located inthe upper part of said shell, outwardly extending supports fixed aroundthe lower part of the shell, and a mold-supporting device surroundingsaid shell and mounted on said supports.

15. In a furnace, the combination of a shell having outwardly extendingsupports near the bottom thereof, a melting pot in the upper part ofsaid shell, and a water holding tank mounted on said supports andsurrounding said casing and constituting a mold-supporting device.

16. In a furnace, the combination of a shell having outwardly extendingsupports thereon, an annular tank adapted to hold water supported bysaid supports and surrounding the shell, and a spider movably mounted insaid tank and adapted to sup port molds.

17. In a furnace, the combination of a shell having outwardly extendingbrackets thereon, an annular tank adapted to hold water supported bysaid brackets and surrounding the shell, a spider movably mounted insaid tank and adapted to support molds, said spider havin upwardlyextending arms on the inner si e thereof, and rollers on said armsresting on the inner wall of said tank. 18. The combination of a furnaceshell having outwardly extending brackets thereon, an annular tanksupported by said brackets and surrounding said shell, a spider ofsubstantially the same shape as said tank located within the tank, saidspider having upwardly extending arms, rollers mounted on said arms andsupported by said tank, whereby said spider is rotatably mounted in thetank, said spider having cross-bars, and molds located in said spiderbetween the cross-bars.

19. The combination of a furnace, a water tank supported by andsurrounding said furnace, a spider located in said water tank,anti-friction devices for supporting the spider and permitting itsrotation within the tank, and molds removably mounted in the spider andhaving projecting arms by which the spider may be rotated.

20. The combination with a water tank, of a spider movably mountedtherein provided with cross-bars, and a series of removable moldsmounted between said cross-bars projecting down into the water andprovided with outwardly extending handles whereby the spider may bemoved along in the tank by grasping any one of the handles and turningthe spider thereby.

21. The combination of a furnace, a tank surrounding said furnace andsupported thereby, and molds movable around the furmice in the tank.

22. The combination of a furnace, a tank surrounding said furnace, andmolds movable around the furnace in the tank.

23. The combination with a tank forming a support, of a movable spidertherein, and a movable ingot mold supported by said spider, said moldhaving an outwardly projecting handle by which said mold and spider maybe moved on the support and a furnace surrounded by the tank.

24. The combination with a water tank,

of a series of individually removable molds witnesses.

ROBERT T. JOHNSTON. Witnesses:

ANNIE B. WALTERS, ALBERT E. DAVIS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

